1. Field of the Invention
This invention lies in the field of rotating biological contactors particularly miniturized modular rotating biological contactor apparatus.
2. Prior Art
Rotating biological oontactors are used for the biological treatment of wastewater. Such a device characteristically utilizes a wastewater contacting medium which is fixed upon a rotatable shaft and arranged to continuously revolve in a reservoir of wastewater to be treated. In an aerobic such device, as the contacting medium rotates, the medium experiences alternatively exposure to wastewater and then to oxygen (air). A biological culture develops on the medium which has capability for digestion of substrates in the wastewater.
The rotating biological contactor has only been used in the United States since the early 1960's. The state of the art is presented in such publications as "Fixed Biological Surfaces--Wastewater Treatment" by R. L. Antonie (CRC Press, 1976), "Biological Wastewater Treatment Theory and Application" by C. P. L. Grady, Jr., and H. C. Lim (Marcel Dekker, Inc., 1980), and the "Proceedings: First National Symposium/Workshop on Rotating Biological Contactor Technology" edited by E. D. Smith, R. D. Miller, and Y. C. Wu (Army Corp. Engineers, USEPA, and University of Pittsburgh, 1980).
In the design stage of producing of a commercially-sized rotating biological contactor, there is frequently a need or a desire to evaluate and/or to optimize proposed system parimeters and the like through the utilization of a miniturized or laboratory-scale embodiment of a rotating biological contactor. Also, in the study of wastewater treatment, in a laboratory or the like, by a rotating biological contactor, there is frequently a need or desire to utilize a small or miniturized embodiment of a rotating biological contactor which can be employed to test, evaluate, and research such matters as operating perimeters, system configurations, system components, and the like. So far as is now known, very little attention in the rotating biological contactor art has previously been paid to the provision of miniturized rotating biological contactor apparatus which is particularly well suited for utilization in engineering design, research, educational study, and like situations where benchscale equipment is needed. Such miniturized equipment as has been available in the past has typically been fabricated on an individual need basis from expensive model-making materials, and the like.
There is a need in the art for inexpensive modular-type miniturized rotating biologioal contactor apparatus which can be simply and easily assembled, disassembled, reassembled, modified, expanded, reused, and/or the like, and which can provide a plurality of different potential apparatus configurations. For example, apparatus is desirable which can optionally be reused, if desired, in a different combination from that employed in a given prior test procedure. Furthermore, and also desirably, such miniturized apparatus should be capable of easy storage, reliable operation, and low cost.